Overview of indicator development in the fields of sustainable development and environmental protection

This paper discusses the historical development, terminological definition, and the theoretical definition of indicators used in the fields of sustainable development and environmental protection. Since numerous indicators are used in a variety of scientific fields and since new indicators are constantly being developed, special focus is given to the types of indicators. Individual, derived, composite, or ‘super’ indicators are increasingly used to show a state and changes of a given state of a specific phenomenon or concept. Thus formed indicators constitute an important segment in the monitoring of the state of the environment and in the monitoring of sustainable development, on the basis of which decisions can be made. Such indicators are extensively used in the fields of sustainable development and environmental protection, and the aim of this review was to help better understand their essence.